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Report: ARD and ZDF secure long-term Olympic deal

German public broadcasters to cover next four editions of flagship event.

Posted: August 1 2017

By: Sam Carp

German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF have reached a sub-licensing agreement with Discovery Communications to cover the Olympic Games between 2018 and 2024, according to Sportcal.

Discovery, which purchased the European TV rights to the Games for that period in a €1.3 billion (US$1.5 billion) deal in June 2015, had previously announced that its own Eurosport channel would be the exclusive broadcaster in Germany of both summer and winter editions of the flagship event.

However, just over half a year on from the collapse of initial negotiations, ARD and ZDF re-entered talks with Discovery in July, in a move which could now see the Games shown by the free-to-air channels.

A statement from Discovery, which has not yet confirmed any partnership, read: ‘We have always expressed our desire to work together and with other partners who value the Olympic Games as much as we do. We have already partnered with 20 of the biggest national broadcasters in Europe to help bring the Games to more people, on more screens, than ever before.

‘ARD/ZDF have a strong legacy of broadcasting the Olympic Games and have earned the respect of viewers and partners. They are also the broadcasters of the 2018 Paralympics. In recent days, Discovery invited ARD ZDF to join us at a site survey in PyeongChang.’